Coldplay announce new album, news of which hopefully goads Radiohead back into the studio

Okay, okay; what’s rattling around in the TMT news queue this morning? Hmm.

Coldplay?

Anything else?

Not really.

New album news or something?

Boy, why the heck do you talk to yourself so much? Yeah. Monday, May 19 (probably May 20 in the US, I’d think?), via Parlophone/Atlantic.

Eh. Well, okay, skim the press release, at least… skimming, skimming… looks to be called Ghost Stories. Says they’re trying to sell hard-copy CD versions of the thing at Target with some “Deluxe CD edition” of the album that has “three bonus tracks” (weird, right? But… you know, Coldplay).

Wow, yeah, looks like there’s only nine tracks on the regular version. Maybe that means its kinda… artsy? Eh, who cares.

Weep no more, children. Record Store Day is coming soon, so your tears are understandable, but I bring good news. Your options have expanded. 180 gram Toys in the Attic is not the only way to show your support for independent retailers. You don’t need to buy that Built to Spill one-sided picture disc 7-inch again this year. Oneohtrix Point Never is here. He’s got a 12-inch. It’s pretty. Let me tell you about it.

Commissions I compiles three OPN compositions originally commissioned for artwork, film, and/or performance. The most recent, “Music for Steamed Rocks,” is an interpretation of Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski’s Preludes and was part of a Polish Icons series at Sacrum Profanum:

Track 2 is “Meet Your Creator,” the 2012 quadrotor flying robot dance for Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Directors’ Showcase, and the B-side is Lopatin’s stunning rework of “I Only Have Eyes For You,” originally part of Doug Aitken’s “SONG1 Happening” installation event at the Hirshhorn Museum, and re-engineered by R Plus Seven (TMT Review) collaborator Paul Corley/mastered by Bedroom Community’s Valgeir Sigurðsson. The 12-inch comes in a fancy foil jacket with some die-cut peek-a-boo going on, the cover was designed by Robert Beatty, and it’s out on Warp. I’m in.

Commissions I tracklist:

01. Music for Steamed Rocks
02. Meet Your Creator
03. I Only Have Eyes for You

Lopatin has also added another slate of tour dates so Mr P can go see him in Minneapolis:

My venerable colleague and metronome enthusiast James Parker expounded in great detail upon the significance of repetition on YYU’s 2012 album TIMETIMETIME&TIME (TMT Review), our #9 favorite album of that year, but with the announcement of a new 12-inch single, Kiss As We Walk, as well as the “announcement” of a proper full-length scheduled for release later this year (around September), we have the chance to see if the 21-year-old Kansan with a penchant for vowels and semi-vowels alike really has what it takes… to repeat things. To repeat things. To repeat things. To repeat things. Just look at my amateur skills vis-à-vis repeating things! If YYU deigned to impress, his next long-player would not only contain the same tracks as his last, but it would be his last! Add to cart, get to the confirmation page, and suddenly [insert name of new album] would become &TIME. A massive conspiracy necessitating the collusion of many online retailers. Awesome.

And awesomely unlikely, I’m afraid, especially considering I’ve listened to the new 12-inch single and can thus confirm that it so consists of all new material. Furthermore, flip to the B-side (in a few weeks, on March 24) and notice the relative linearity of “When We Are Old,” which was recorded in an “old bathroom” and contains little more than the man’s beautifully solemn vocals, a guitar, and birds — surely unharmed. It signifies a mild fade from the abstractness that we were previously so bowled over by, but it may or may not double as foreshadowing. Equally disruptive of pattern is YYU’s switch from the vaporwaving Beer On The Rug to the UK-based RAMP Recordings.

Once, there was a band called The Notwist. Great news: there’s still a band called The Notwist! It’s just been a little while since we’ve heard from them, what with their last album, The Devil, You + Me, having been released in 2008. But the long-running German electronic-but-formerly-metal band recently broke their silence with a new record titled Close to the Glass (TMT Review), out now through Sub Pop. Now, any good businessperson knows you don’t release a new album and not tour. By that measure, The Notwist are fantastic businessmen, as they’re got a quite extensive itinerary of both European and North American dates in the pipeline.

All this talk about touring and new records has got me thinking about gigantic apes. Sorry, my brain works in strange ways. That said, it’s all working out in a logical fashion, since The Notwist have released a new video for Close to the Glass track “Kong.” Watch that right here or below:

Composer, producer, and love of my life Ben Frost had us all in a choke-hold with 2009’s By the Throat, but he slowly relaxed his grip and drifted off into collaborative ventures, leaving me surfing OkCupid for a new partner who was into strangling. But as of a recent announcement, I can already feel the neck burns reforming about my vulnerable nape as Mr. Frost will indeed release his first solo follow-up on May 27, entitled A U R O R A!

This will be Frost’s fifth solo record, performed by himself with Greg Fox, Shahzad Ismaily, and Thor Harris of SWANS. Whew, buddy, I can barely breathe, may start hallucinating some auroras right now. Such strong hands, Ben.

The release will also be preceded by a series of live dates, including a London performance at the Village Underground on April 26: